Current Research

1. Analysis of housing growth and expansion of the wildland-urban infterface, at the national and regional levels, including in relation to future land use projections and climate change 2. Adaptation and rebuilding after wildfire 3. Assessment of state-level wildlife recreation participation, in relation to sociodemographic and land use/ecological variables. 4. Research on the prevalence and spatial distribution of 'clustered' housing developments in relation to public lands in Colorado.

Research Interests

I am a research scientist who studies conservation and land use, combining ecological and social science. Current research at the Rocky Mountain Research Station focuses on understanding changing natural resource use and management with shifting human demographics, including examining mapping the growth of the wildland-urban interface (WUI) over time, examining rebuilding in the WUI after wildfire, studying housing development and its ecological and social effects, exploring alternative forms of development such as conservation development, and studying changing patterns of wildlife-based recreation (hunting and viewing). Research during my graduate career examined the linked ecological and social dynamics of subsistence wildlife harvesting in a Central African logging concession.

Past Research

1. Changes in wildlife-associated recreation participation (hunting and viewing) over time. 2. Analysis of housing growth in New England using census data to elucidate trends in the spatial and temporal development of residential housing, in and around the Northern Forest, from 1940-2000. 3. Doctoral research examined the spatial distribution and sustainability of hunting outside a protected area in Congo-Brazzaville

Why This Research is Important

Our communities have experienced substantial demographic, social, and economic transformations over the past 30 years. Production-related human impacts (farms, forestry, transportation, and factories) in rural areas have given way to new forms of development linked to natural and cultural amenities. Suburban and exurban areas are become larger and more diverse, as development continues and population deconcentrates. Documenting these trends and understanding the factors that underlie them is essential to finding new ways of mitigating the impacts on natural resources. The Intermountain West region has experienced especially rapid population growth due to amenity based migration, making RMRS a natural setting for such a program of research.